It's Fall in my Kitchen

Football season is here, pumpkin spice lattes are back, and it’s dark when I wake up in the morning. That can only mean one thing: fall is almost here. We've had luck with the weather and it's been nice and warm over the last few weeks, but the air is crisp in the morning, it cools down at night, and the leaves are starting to fall.

 

So while we're enjoying the last days of this summer, soaking up the last sun rays before the rainy season begins, playing at the water park as much as possible, I can’t help but be excited. Don't get me wrong, I love a hot sunny day, but fall is most definitely my favorite season. I love boots and scarves, crockpot food and soups, spending a Sunday morning on the couch guilt free because it’s raining anyway, cheering on my Seahawks, watching the rain sitting by my big living room window, cuddled up in a blanket, drinking a glass of wine or cup of tea, doing fall yard work outside on days the warm fall sun comes out, and experimenting with our home grown fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. Oh, and I can’t wait to buy Noah his first rain boots, quite possibly the cutest piece of kids clothing there is.

We've enjoyed strawberries and blueberries from our garden all summer long. It was perfect for Noah's breakfast and lunches, but we picked the last few a couple of weeks ago. Then we just finished our last jar of apple sauce from last year, so I'm glad that our first apples and pears are just starting to get ripe.

We’ve been eating them for breakfast as they fall off the tree but can hardly keep up, so instead of canning a huge amount of apple/pear sauce as we did last year, I decided last night after we came home from a 5 mile run (yes, I know!) to make a small batch of apple/pear sauce. It’s really the easiest thing to do. If you have any fruit at home or find them at a great deal at the grocery store, you must try it. I don’t remember the last time I bought apple sauce. It’s just not the same. So, here’s what I did.

I peeled about four pears and apples each and cut them into small chunks, placed them in a medium size sauce pan and cooked them over low/medium heat (no lid), stirring them every once in a while and enjoying the lovely smell, but for the most part just forgot about them for about 2 hours. I helped mash them a bit with a wooden spoon, but I like my apple sauce chunky. If you like it smooth, just use a potato masher or a hand held mixer. I was in the mood for plain and basic fruit flavor so I didn’t add anything else. The pears added some extra sweetness, so I didn’t have to add any sugar. You could also add cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, or cloves for some additional fall flavors.

I let them cool down a bit and filled them into jars – one is just a pizza sauce jar, the other one a mason jar we got last year when our collection of used jars wasn’t big enough.

 

For a moment I was getting all Pinteresty in my mind and thought how awesome it would be to add chalkboard labels, but realized quickly that that was a silly thought at 9pm on a Monday night. Maybe next time.